Sharing some inspiration from the internet:

Using words written by others to convey my own expressions and realizations...

Disappointed in FitBit

I'm sorry for a very straightforward verdict rather than the usual pros and cons and letting you make up your mind. But that is how strongly I feel about it.
It was the first day of recording 'a week in my life' back in end of october when I snapped on fit-bit for the very first time and was very disappointed to find out that it is nothing but a pedometer on a wrist band which is connected to an app on my phone.

One Little Word for 2014: Connect

There is a saying in Hindi that roughly translates into, ‘Faith can turn a rock into God’. This little word is turning out to be so, I believe in it. I have had second thoughts about having a single word as my guiding mantra but at the end of the year, I often look back and see how opportunities came and guided me through my intention.

This year my intention is: CONNECT

I started thinking about my word for 2014 a few months ago, many words came across as I slowly turned them in my head to see the possibilities they carry as they gently float by in the wake of my thoughts. For some reason, I thought it very difficult this year to find one word to be my intention. I saw myself as expanding and ready to soar and see where the winds of change will take me and yet I wanted to be rooted and be honest to myself. I imagined myself with multiple words, directing the different facets of my life that I am looking to bring to light but nothing seemed right.

It was a few weeks ago during a run on the treadmill when I was experimenting with the way my feet touches the moving strip (toe first versus heel first and the area of the sole) that the word ‘Connect’ floated into my thoughts and kind of stuck. It didn’t seem right at first and definitely not all encompassing but as I mulled it started to make sense. It’s not a complicated word and certainly not the one with deeper meaning but it can be interpreted in so many ways to give it such profound meaning.

I’d like to CONNECT to my inner self, my unnoticed thoughts and inspirations.

I’d like to CONNECT deeper within my physical body, practice yoga more frequency, meditate and understand what my body is telling me.

I’d like to CONNECT better with my family and friends, be there to listen and to understand and expand beyond the Facebook updates and text messaging. I’d like to hear their voices and give real hugs, share meals and play games.

I’d like to CONNECT with like-minded people to expand my venture; I’d like to meet more artisans and collaborate and find more people who are willing to look at real art that defies trends.

And just like that, I was CONNECTED to my little word for the year 2014… 

My Etsy shop...

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."      -MLK, Jr.

So, I've talked a lot about, mindful decor, and conscientious approach to making choices, and it feels like it's time for some action in the form of my own Etsy shop where you can find one-of-a-kind pieces for your personal use or for gifting to others.

Over the years, during my travels  I've collected some articles which to me looked good and functional and which instead of being mass-produced, were hand-crafted artifacts, to which the artisan could personally relate to, and not as a cog in a giant machinery but as the creator. This would become obvious in the these wabi-sabi pieces, which bear the imprint of the craftist's hand as it shaped the piece.

The craft forms, that yielded these articles, have been practiced for centuries, with the techniques of giving form to the article and then giving it visual appeal, having been passed down generations. It would be rare for any two pieces to look alike, even though the designs maybe similar.

At present my shop barely scratches the surface of indigenous art and craft forms out there, and presents a mere glimpse. But this little shop, kitty corner from your abode on the internet, holds a promise - that of bringing to fore art form that are in need of patronage. 

This shop represents commerce not for its own sake but in aid of crafts that may not make it on their own. The profits from the sale from this shop would be reinvested towards the betterment of artisans, mainly the women folks pursuing art as a means for livelihood. 

This holiday season instead of buying mass market products, go for artisanal gifts - its a win win all around...

Kanjivaram Sari inspired painted IKEA step stool

This IKEA stool (BEKVÄM) retired from its services in the kids bathroom since both girls can now reach the sink without any external aid. It sat in the garage among the donation pile for a couple of months before I brought it back inside. It was a sturdy wooden stool still functional except the unsightly toothpaste blotches so I decided to rescue it with some paint. 

I had picked up a pint of  SW Blue Mosque on an impulse a few weeks ago and it seemed perfect for the stool. It was bright enough to make a statement and dark enough to bear some rough use. 

It took a couple of coats to fully cover the wood and looked beautiful in itself but I was looking for a little more spunk and so I decided to add some accent color. 

The bare blue stool had a fabulous color and I wished, I had a sari that color  (I secretly wish to own saris in all colors that inspire and move me...). It was that wish which prompted me to add a gold border to the base of the stool, much like the gold zari border of a Kanjivaram sari . 

The gold paint is a craft acrylic color that I had on hand but since it is just used on the leg of the stool which doesn't get rubbed so often so I think it should hold up well, else I'll give it another touch-up coat.
Here's the final product: 

I am planning to secure the top of the stool with polyurethane or wax to increase the longevity of the paint but that needs another trip to the hardware store so I am calling it done for now. 

Very happy with my Kanjivarm inspired painting on the stool and I think it would be an elegant addition to the study room where the girls still need help reaching the top book shelves... 
I had some extra paint left in the dish that would just have to be washed off so I put it to good use by painting the inside of this wooden dish that I use for holder paperclips, erasers and other small things.

Know your Artisans!

Artisans are scattered throughout the world that have been, for generations, pursuing art as a cultural expression while also making it a means of earning their livelihood.

Art makes the physical connection of intangibles to everyday life making it colorful and more meaningful.

The articles of common use that developed over the course of millennia for rituals or simply for lifestyle needs, were functional and yet aesthetically pleasing. They also helped preserve an organic way of living life.

Art has not often been accessible to the common folk or even what are now called the middle classes, having been a preserve of the rich and influential. Not in-consequently, many of us never consider ourselves deserving of an indulgence, which an original piece of art has come to mean for us.

In the current mindset, articles of daily use are considered disposable due in large part to their mass production and consequently – cheap cost. The production of such articles is not necessarily environmentally friendly and their cheap quality demands frequent replacement leading to disposal of things in the ever growing landfills. The attitudes towards articles that mass-production engenders, cheapens not just that article, but towards the whole class of objects. If one considered a factory produced plate cheap, chances are slim that one would place significant value in the creation of an artisan.

An example is baskets. Hand-woven baskets made with natural materials are slowly making a comeback but for the longest time were relegated to mere curiosities, having been replaced by plastic or other such material. They were cheap and fast and colorful and you could change them every season if you wished. But all ended up in large pits in the earth, where they’ll still be around for millennia, or perhaps they are floating in the middle of Pacific Ocean adding to the area of the giant plastic island.

While this seemingly innocuous lifestyle of keeping up with the trends and throwing outdated materials into trash hurts the environment, it also hurts the artisans who truly wish to create art and enjoy the process of creating.

In malls and outlets, there are numerous pieces of bright color embroidered glittering fabric products and yet they fail to convey the expression or intent of the artists. They were made for commercial purpose, likely based on supply and demand worksheet, and most likely in a factory setting. Often the designs and fabric are created keeping the customers in mind and not the artist and in trying to meet the needs of the buyer, the authenticity of the artwork is usually lost.
But, the creativity and artistic expression that is enmeshed with a culturally rich life – something we might imagine as belonging to a bygone idyllic time still lives and breathes among us in the unknown corners.

The creative freedom needed by an artisan is usually lacking in the mass produced hodge-podge pieces done in an assembly line style. The artist is never allowed to reflect the emotional, cultural and spiritual side of their being and is restricted to being a wage-earning worker, which stunts her pride in her craft. The result is disenchantment, if not outright disgruntlement with the whole process and the sad demise of the artistic side of the craft.

If the artists are reduced to workers that create products based on current trends they have no way to share their love of art with the younger generations and the craft will die as soon as it comes off the shelf of a high-end store in a mall. Many fine skills that were conceived in a time before machines took over our lives are slowly lost to us; often too expensive to pursue and don’t have a market value that can fetch it a subsistence level price. At the same time we as consumer spend money on faux exotic pieces without realizing that we can patronize true art and real artisans.

In my last post, I argued that we should follow our own heart for a meaningful living and in this post I turn around and ask that we follow the work of artisans and learn more about their craft, their motivation and the natural expression of their art.

Or maybe this isn't what your heart desires, and maybe there is peace and serenity to be found in simply following trends, which I have yet to discover, but I doubt.

This conversation is not about following or leading but it’s about being aware. All realize as a consumer that the value of an item extends far beyond the price-tag and the brand name.

Trends come and go but our relationship with life, our environment and the well-being of our fellow humans is eternal. It’s important to be aware of the drift we’re flowing with, as also the currents we contribute to, as we meander towards the destinations of inner fulfillment.

What's your Design Style

Do you know what brings peace to your surroundings; what truly connects you to your inner self and what really inspires you to greater things?

I ask this because our hectic schedule and the race to excel in life don’t leave us with enough time to contemplate these things. In a world driven by marketing and social media, sometimes it is tough to distinguish between our own desires and the need to follow trends and people whom we admire and therefore wish to emulate.

Home needs to be the sanctuary where one can express one’s individuality, find balance and seek inspiration and deeper meanings in life.

But it seems we often tend to imitate thereby bringing someone else’s idea of a sanctuary into our lives and hope that it brings deeper meaning to us as well. It usually doesn’t, then boredom ensues and we begin to seek change to the next new trend. In this pursuit, the significance of our surroundings and the things that constitute it gets utterly lost to us.

Of course, it doesn’t help that often times the people looked up to as style icons themselves, try to mold the taste of their ‘followers’ to create a sort of snowball effect in trends they’re pushing.

Do you know your own sphere of influence, what and who you impact?

Do you also know who and what sway your own decisions?

We all impact each other’s decisions by way of subliminal messages, choices and actions we make. But how much of the impact is ‘natural’ and where does it become ‘manufactured’ ergo for a commercial purpose.

Is a thing of beauty, really a joy forever?

If the object is beautiful but you didn’t associate with it, thought it beautiful till your favorite designer stylist pointed it out to you then it’s not serving the purpose. It is not beautiful because someone that you look up to or admire said so… It might be for them but not for you.

The problem is we don’t stop to think, to arrive at that realization. There are magazines to tell us what color should be our home this season, what we should wear, which animal sculpture we should find cute or add to our collection. And we just follow along – blissfully unaware of our own likes.

Objects do serve a purpose toward enhancing our lives, but that truly happens only when we feel invested in them, to some degree, by way of our conscious, thoughtful preferences and selections.

In my day job as a designer and engineer, the perpetual debate – ‘form vs function’ rages on. Good designs are to be found at various cross-sections of the wide spectrum between extremes. I personally seek a balance but others’ quests might be more emotional or spiritual. The design should be functional and yet a utilitarian object needn’t be ugly. But again one’s definition of ugly is subjective.

That beautiful 18th century brass plate hanging in a living room, untouched and unused, was originally created not merely to be displayed, but was part of everyday life or maybe for special celebrations. We now admire its beauty and have therefore put it out of commission and out of everyday reach. Such an object’s beauty doesn’t bring joy to me, as its functional value has been rejected.

While it’s important to strike a balance between form and function while making choices, the paramount act is that of making the choice, and doing so of your own accord.

I’ll continue another time about the larger impacts of our décor decisions – how it often involves things we’re not even aware of.

A late snow storm - 19 April 2013

We got a very late snow storm this year and as I think about it and complain, I realize that 'late' is just a perception that I am carrying... to be in the moment cannot be defined by January or April or any other time but 'now'...

The Snow Man, a poem by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. 

Dear Daughter...

My friend, fellow scrapbooker and blogger, Mary Jo has provided me with plenty of inspiration in the past, as I had mentioned and this time again she managed to stir me into action.

I posted a picture of my daughters on their first day of school on Facebook and while everyone else commented for and wished the girls, she asked me, 'How am I feeling?' that shifted my focus towards me and about the role that I am playing as the kids transition on to a new year in school.
Then she posted a scrapbooking challenge on craft your nest blog about writing a letter in your layout, which gave me a chance to put my feelings into words and document it for future.
The stirring and the challenge resulted into a scrapbook layout, something that I had not done in quite sometime...

The focus on this page is the letter that I wrote to my daughter as she is transitioning into third grade with minimal embellishment and literally no clutter. The journaling states...

                   --------------------------------- THE LETTER------------------------------------

Dear Daughter,

Sweetheart this week you started 3^rd Grade and although it might seem like just another transition to a new grade at elementary school, I am realizing that it is a major milestone for both of us.
I see you trying hard to balance between the big girl roles that you are expected to play as a third grader and yet trying to remain Mamma’s little girl. You are discovering the freedom to fly away independent of constant supervision and then returning under my wings for reassurance. I realize your struggle and find successes while you remain unaware of it and I know it’s impossible for me to show my support in words but I am trying very hard to be there for you when you need me yet giving you ample room to explore, grow and form your own thoughts.
This is just a first step for us to build trust as things are going to get more convoluted as time passes but we just have to know that we will be there for each other, to listen and to support.

You are an amazing big sister and the bond between the two of you is something that I cherish, it will be a foundation that will be a rescue raft for when you encounter a storm in your later years. Sometimes you act as a first layer of filter between the seemingly silly questions your sister might throw at her parents and at other times she pushes you to face your own fears and not be afraid of expressing yourself. You take your role as a big sister very seriously and I am proud of you for being a wonderful role model.

As you are discovering your personality apart from the shadow of your parents and even though you are very much your own person, it’s very interesting to identify little quirks in your mannerisms’ of your Dad and I that you have inherited. You have a strong sense of music and there is certain type of music that demands your entire focus and disturbs your own standing just like your Dad’s. I haven’t been able to pin point it but in past six months I can almost anticipate when you’ll ask me to switch songs because the music is messing with your thoughts and peace of mind.

As you are growing into big girls shoes, trying to make peace with the fact that you are the youngest third Grader in your school and not as tall as other classmates, and trying very hard to win approval of your parents and your teachers, I want you to know that you are loved for who you are and you shouldn’t hesitate to explore your own path for the fear of not meeting expectations.
You have above you a whole new sky that at times might be unavailable for other adults to reach because we are too set in our patterns and in our rules; you shouldn’t restrict your imagination and thoughts for what we cannot comprehend and just believe that we are here for you to hold you up as far as we can so you can touch the stars. 
--------------------------END---------------------------------

Thank you Mary Jo for the inspiration and the challenge... 

Dohar

The last time I heard this word was from my Dadi’s conversation when I was still in the early years of my elementary school. The hindi word ‘Doharana’ in literal terms mean repeating and dohar would imply layers. It is a light summer quilt that used to be made out of fine, old , almost translucent, cotton saris and bound at the edges with heavier linen or satin to bring structural integrity to the layers.

In trying to describe and write what a dohar means, I am transported to a cool summer morning, on the terrace at my grandma's house hidden under the warmth of cool cotton layers that is blocking the gentle cool morning breeze and yet letting the warmth of morning sun filter in.

Now, you must wonder how I (we) could let go of something that felt so wonderful. It’s not just that, there is a lot more that we have forgotten that still lies along the curb of the roadways that we have traversed with great speed and dexterity focused solely on getting ahead and forgetting all that which couldn't keep up the pace. 

While reading online version of Lonny Magazine, I came across the article about textiles from south east Asia and reached the website, Mela and Roam. I explored the site for quite sometime and was held captive not just by the products but their names as well. Names like Orai, Fatehpur, Betul, reminds me of obscure train journeys and halts at unknown platforms that have taken a form to envelope nostalgia. 

There are many things like that, that tug on to the emotional and to quite an extent sensible strings of my heart; like the tussar silk where the cocoon is unraveled and not killed to make silk, the hand looms that provide livelihood and a means of expression to the village women, the iron molten and forced into an idea. And many many other arts like that which are dying a slow death burying within a culture and a generation and a philosophy which we should rather hold on to. 

DOHAR - image from Mela and Roam 

I'd like to revive and bring the things from comfortable pace of life to the fast paced life of ours, to cherish and appreciate the simpler times. 

After spending a significant amount of time at Mela and Roam, my resolve was strengthened, its a sign, its the direction that I have been looking for and I must not procrastinate any longer...

Inspiration in Recycle bin...

I am suffering with a head cold and with all the pressure concentrated around the eyes and forehead, the brain functioning is quite foggy.

Hot tea, of course is a big help, mostly Ginger Yogi tea but any other kind is fine too as long as its hot.

Ever since I gave up coffee earlier in February, tea has been a big help and I am going through Yogi Tea boxes quite regularly. Today in the fog of the morning and of my brain too, I needed some repetitive activity that didn’t seem mundane. The Yogi Tea box lying open in the recycling basket called out to my rescue and I colored and cut out a few shapes from it. The patterns remined me of traditional Indian Henna designs and in sick times, familiarity brings a lot of comfort...

They are now displayed in my work cubicle and introducing color and cheer to my otherwise bland day.

Blogging and inspiration

I think everyone should blog and of course that's my personal opinion but I think we all have a story to share and there are plenty of people who would want to listen to your story and blogland connects the two, the story teller and the story seeker.
The other day over dinner DH and I started discussing our winter school uniform from our childhood and the girls got really interested in it. They have no concept of uniform dressing in school and so everything from my Mary-Jane to the color of my hair ribbons was fascinating to them. And after I was done telling them all that they scooted over to Daddy's side and prompted him to tell about it, who knew...

I remember the time as a young girl when my Dadi (paternal Grandma) and I shared a room and she told me such interesting stories, many of them we later realized were even unknown to my Dad. I wonder how many of them did I really understand at the time and how many many I recollect in completion now and of course there must have been some that I slept right through...

Besides a legacy that you might leave for others to follow, blogging is also a marker to measure your own growth. It is always easier to look back and connect the dots and use the direction as a launching pad for tomorrow rather than trying to judge on a spur, where am I headed.

Anyways, I think I made a point and you caught it....

Just because I love stories and draw a lot of inspirations from fellow bloggers, I wanted to share some blog posts/ bloggers that help me keep a healthy balance and of course my 'Can do' attitude.

Mary Jo and I became friend through scrapbooking and over the last couple of years, I am not as actively pursuing Scrapbooking as I used to but she is a really inspiration in times when I think I can't do it anymore. Her kids are in general age group as mine and when I see her pages using the latest products and creative story-telling, it compels me to document more of my own stories in a creative fashion and continue even though at albeit slower pace...

I love art but it always becomes a production to start a new project and so I am very hesitant to pick up and sketch, that is untill I saw Alisa Burke's post about drawing on a brown paper with white correction pen for personalized wrapping paper. And out came this doodle on the back of my calculation pad with Bic correction pen.


This inspiration about hanging Christmas and new year cards on the wall using painters tape came from Elsie Blaha's greetings wall and Elsie Larsons kitchen tour.

Elsie Blaha also inspired me to set smaller running targets to get back into running after taking a small hiatus Her instagram updates make me want to enjoy the mild winter that we have for this year and step out in the open for quick runs. (running a mile everyday)

Elsie Larson has been an inspiration for a long time, since I bought her first book about 52 scrapbooking projects. Have been following her art projects and fashion style on her blog for quite sometime but the recent house tour series inspires me to embrace my own style and not follow trends just for the sake of it. Here's a picture of the potential nook that I am creating in the landing/hallway for my work area...

  

Karen Russell is a wonderful person and I love her teaching style, I audited her 'Photographers Workshop' and absolutely loved it but what I love most about her blog is that she is too real and that inspires me.



I have been following Kal Barteski's 'love life blog for quite some time. The fact that out girls are in the same general age group, we often find ourselves dealing with same issues and its relieving to find someone in same boats as yours boat blog. I really enjoy her art and most recently the script brush art but her bullet proof attitude and war against piracy through 'Link with Love' are a major source of inspiration. I have adapted her Every Other Day philosophy to get through my cyclic chores and not be bogged down by it.

Ali Edwards' is probably one of the first blogs that I started reading and I have drawn a lot of inspiration from her. Not just from her creative scrapbooking style but also the aspect where you discover yourself through following a creative process. I follow her One little word for inspiration and have now launched into 'project life'.

Ekam

Last weekend, there was a show in town that was a conglomeration of Gospel Music, devotional Hindu songs, Muslim music and Sufi music along with the portrayal of spiritual wisdom through movements of Kathak dance.
The show was a combined effort of Rita Mustaphi and Robert Robinson and their respective teams. It was a show that would stand for the antithesis of what is making headlines in these chaotic times, a sort of island of peace, a respite from our intense focus on differences and embracing the common bond. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow quoted, “Music is the universal language of Mankind” and this show depicts the quote in a physical form for those who need something more tangible to grasp at while they travel to the intangible that runs through all of us.








Along with the Gospel music sung by Robert Robinson, these following songs/poetry (favorites) along with others were featured on the show.


- The Reed Flute’s Song by Rumi

 - Kabir’s Poetry, Saahib mera ek hai

 - I hope you dance by Lee Ann Womack







Depiction of Durga, goddess of power killing the evil Mahisasur

Despite the soul wrenching music, my favorite piece was a tihai (technical kathak dance piece repeated in patterns of three)


It showed the search of human for the divine that is constantly in tune with us and present around and within us. I feel blessed to be able to see this piece first in classroom and then again on stage with the understanding of the interpretation.









If you get an opportunity to see this show don't miss it...

Water Train - 77 words

Last month there was a short story (less than 78 words) contest in the Esquire magazine and participating in it was a good writing exercise for me. The experience that I wanted to capture was the train that brings water to the dry/desert regions of Gujarat (Kutch regions). I happen to travel in that train a couple of times back in the late nineties and have held the long dreary day close to my heart as one of the life changing experience.

Someday I hope to travel the region again and perhaps not in that slow train again but it’s a story worth sharing, I’ll have to take time for it…

For now, my 77 words:

The screeching sound of crank shaft and wheels jostling together and the jolt from the engine pulled the train out of the platform. As the clamor of the people quieted under the steady lulling train sounds, the desert sand roared in with the iron wheels, babul needles sharp and stiff, defied the triumph of drought while the cloud less blue sky bent down to kiss, for the train brought the water that the sky failed to deliver.

Soo line caboose, a photo by shalini_devesh on Flickr.

Podrunner Podcast

Like I have said before, I am an incidental runner, didn’t plan to be one but I needed to rattle my thoughts within my brain and be out in the nature which contributed to my running. To this day I hesitate calling myself a runner especially because I am surrounded by co-workers who have run marathons and sneeze 5Ks routinely. I never received any training, never join any running club, never had a steady running partner, all I had was a print out that claimed to take me from couch to 5K in 12 weeks and I thought good for me, at least I am not on the couch….

The first few 5Ks that I did came because I steadily increased my running time and to my surprise one day, the pedometer app on the iPod claimed that I ran 4.8 miles and I thought to myself hurrah… Then came a season when getting out of the house to run wasn’t as easy and I started losing my muscles, sure enough it wasn’t long after that that half an hour of huffing and puffing and my pedometer barely registers two miles. No, it’s not my pedometer that’s broken it’s me; and trust me it took a lot of courage to admit that to myself. When the stomach is hurting and breathes making a constant wheezing sound and the heart is leaping to find a way out of the body, it’s tough to say to yourself that you didn’t try enough or that the body is not strong enough.

Well, coming to the point, after a few episodes like that I knew I needed help and I knew I cannot commit to the confines of a gym routine and I was too hesitant to expose myself to a running club or a running coach. That’s when pod-runner podcast made a re-entry in my life. I say re-entry because I had heard about it a year ago at a beginners running brown-bag that my friend had organized but at that time I was doing okay as a runner and never paid attention to it.

Fast forward to April this year, a few weeks before my first 5K of 2011, I was not as prepared as I wanted to be and was scrambling to put together a playlist of high energy and high beat songs that can carry me through. And out of the blue, I landed on this free exercise podcast again, I downloaded it to my computer and then to my Philips MP3 player that I am now using for my runs cause the iPod touch seems too delicate if it ever slips off my pocket while running and breaks. Besides the podcast I also uploaded some high intensity bollywood songs that ended up saving me during the Susan G Komen 5K as I had mentioned.

After the race I have been diligently working with the pod-runner podcast and since I haven’t yet found a routine that I can stick to, I keep flipping between week 1 music to week 5 music, depending upon how I am feeling that particular moment but the goal is that with this steady and sometimes not so steady practice by Fall sometime I should be able to run 5K at a desirable speed and hopefully graduate to an 8K at an average speed. The podcast is a series of remixed songs and are split into slow beats and fast beats to indicate the walking/running interval. That’s the goal anyways and I like it because even though I can’t run a 5K at a desirable speed I know the 2.5 miles that I ran with intervals is close to my aim. Besides I don’t end up with a pain in my liver and constantly out of breathe instead I slow down before I hit the peak as suggested by the music beats and end up working my leg muscles and not taxing my lungs.

I wanted to document my new efforts and perhaps share it with a newbie runner who is hesitant like me…

Yogi Tea Reminders

I recently (few months ago) started drinking Yogi Tea blends that are design specifically to cure a nuisance. Take note, I didn’t say disease, I said nuisance. Anyways, so besides providing antioxidants and natural herbal supplements, it also shows a yoga pose on each box and the tail of each tea bag comes with a message.

If you have been reading this blog for a bit you know how I look for signs everywhere so these are some that I don’t have to go out to seek, they are just there… or here as following…

Nature is a giver, a true friend and a sustainer.


There is nothing more precious than the self.


Wherever you go, go with all of your heart.


May your light become a living universal light.


When the mind is backed by will, miracles happen.


The purpose of life is to enjoy every moment.

Now if you are also a sign seeker maybe it was just meant to be that you’ll read some of these and be inspired to absorb it or be reminded of something else that will serve as a sign.

I know for sure, I was meant to share them with you, at this moment, so I did it…

Keeping it real...

I feel so blessed each time I see my daughters. I feel honored that God chose me to nurture these individuals in early stages of their life and I already know these two are going to be two very remarkable personalities. And so when my girls look up to me and shower their adorations on me, I cannot but gush at my fortune. My girls pretending to go for a run, or pretend to do yoga in the living room, or just pretend to fast with me, it is just too sweet and too special a treat.

And although I enjoy it much I don't want them to have any false givings about my capabilities. I tell them when I need help and I sometimes share with them my fears. My older one is a realist and so she needs to see how irrelevant perfection is at times. Long story short, I was telling my girls about how I need a lot of practice for my upcoming recitals because I am not doing a good job. My daughters of course came back with a, 'No, Mamma you are the best' and 'You dance so well'. So I told them, that I need a lot of practice and then I can do justice to all that my teacher is entrusting me with.

My realist girl quickly asked me, 'so you think your heart is not in it?'

I had to maneuver carefully and I explained, I have lots on my plate and there are many others things in my life that need to be done, and they are my priority and so even though my heart is into dancing I can't devote as much time to it as I want. But that doesn't mean that I'll give up, I'll keep trying and eventually I'll get there but for now I'll just enjoy dancing even if its not perfect.

I saw a light bulb flicker in my girl's eyes, and she said, 'I think you are right Mamma, we should keep trying and no matter what you think I like how you dance'. This was a big concept for my 6 year old to grasp, she wants to be perfect at everything she does, even if its the first time she does it.

And now that we are on the topic of my upcoming dance recital, I need to mention that I am recruited for three sequence. Usually I don't sign up for anything more than one but this time, I just didn't say no. Not yet.

One of the dance is a pure technique dance that I have learned throughout the year, the other one is a special story telling dance that Pt. Birju Maharaj ji specially composed for our dance school and also one of the very first ones that I started to learn seven years ago but never finished. So I am gonna finish it this time.
The third and the opening number is the one that I am honored to be performing. It is a fusion number of India's national song 'Vande Matram' and Guru Rabindranath Tagore's poem 'Where the mind is without Fear'. This year is the 150th birth anniversary of Indian Nobel Laureate and our school will pay respect through this performance. Now you know, why I am so nervous about not doing justice to the whole sequence. 
This was also my first time experiencing my teachers' choreography process and I feel very close to her just to be able to watch her go through iterations and create the perfect magic. 


Here's the link to the opening fusion number: 





And a picture of me from last years' recital:

Coming back...

Its been over a year that I have not posted anything on this blog and for the longest time I considered discontinuing this blog and merging with my other blog. But over the last few weeks I have been reconsidering reviving and rekindling the creative spirit. Its not that I wasn't creative the last year or so when I had stopped posting but just the sharing part of it was lacking and now I am in the phase where I don't seem to have accomplished anything and I would like seek some help getting my creative self back.

Long ago, I had started making a 'bad weather journal' where I'd write inspirational quotes and compliments that I received just so that I can lean on those fair weather words when I find myself down in the dumps or a similar downward spiral. It came in very handy and though I have stopped updating that journal I still read it in rough time and find solace and amusement.
I plan to follow a similar process here. I'll share my ideas and inspirations and also hope to share a few finished products, I might just start with the ones that I have already done but I am determined to start and hope that mass and momentum will gather... Yes, I can't deny I am an engineer and equations seem to just creep into design just like design often shows up in my engineering.

Today I felt inspired by these postcard from Anthropologie:

There was something in these words that struck a chord in my own heart and I just had to share them. I love writing letters but in today's fast paced world of emails and chats, written words have long been forgotten except by my Mom who often writes to me in the traditional way. After seeing these I think I just might write to her that long over due letter...